


Always Can Sometimes be Never

by braedens



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst, Coma, Coma AU, Comatose Percy, First Kiss, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Memory Loss, Or Is he?, Percy remembers being a demigod, Small fluff, but isn't one, i'm terrible at tags, percabeth, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-01-27 15:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1716104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braedens/pseuds/braedens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if you woke up, and realized almost half of your life was a lie? Crazy enough, that's how Percy felt as he woke up from his coma after seven years. Was the world of monsters and demigods real, or will Percy have to let go of all those memories?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No

The giant war was over: The seven heroes and Nico, all combined, had defeated Gaea, and sent her back to the ground, where she belonged. And as all the friends stood together, they remained speechless at what had just happened, and Hazel sat on the ground, her head buried in her hands. The seven friends had watched as Leo selflessly gave himself up, and went on to close the Doors of Death himself. It was a sacrifice he was willing to take with the group, and his last words were still ringing in everyone's ears.

"You each have someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I never did. But now, I do. I have no one else to live for, yet I would totally risk death for all of you. Keep each other safe, for me." Though, he may have been talking to his friends, his eyes fell on Frank, Hazel's boyfriend. Everyone knew of the connection Leo and Hazel had, and yet he was willing to give that up, for her.

Leo's sacrifice led everyone to stand aghast as he fell deeper into Tartarus, and close the doors. He wouldn't let Percy nor Jason. He risked his life for them, and they weren't going to take it in vain.

Tears streaming down her face, Annabeth grabbed hold of Percy's shirt and dug her face in her chest, a wailing sound of sorrow escaping her lips. Percy snaked his arms tightly around her, protecting her, comforting her. It was over. It was all over. The prophecy was fulfilled, and still, the group was still torn. Piper and Jason comforted each other in a sea of tears, coping with the fact that they had both lost their best friend. And Frank was kneeling next to Hazel, who still sat on the ground, face in her hands, the only way you could tell she was crying was by the shaking of her shoulders.

He looked down at a mess of blond hair, always stuck in a ponytail. Just minutes before, Percy was willing to give up his life for his friends. He was ready to die, without a second though. Just like his fatal flaw, his loyalty to his friends almost killed him. But as he didn't think about it, he now thought about Annabeth. If Annabeth were to have sacrificed herself, he wouldn't be able to deal with that. He would always hate himself for it, and he would never be okay again. He needed Annabeth: she was more than his best friend, more than his girlfriend, more than the love of his life: she was him. And he was her. To be without her would be to be without himself. So he could only imagine how she would deal with it if he was the one to leave. To die.

Stepping back, he took Annabeth's face in his hands, and she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and a confused look. "Annabeth, I love you." No smile, no jokes. It was the most serious thing to him. He'd said it plenty of times, but right there, he meant it with every inch of his body. "And I will always be with you. Always." he spoke, brushing tears from her eyes. Her hands grabbed onto his wrists as she stood on her tiptoes, and leaned in to kiss him, whispering his name. "Percy,"

"Percy."

"Percy, sweety. He's moving!"

Percy's eyes fluttered open, staring up at a white wall. "Annabeth," he murmured, and lifted his head up. "Annabeth?" he asked again, louder. The room around his was disoriented, but all he could think about was Annabeth, and where she was. "But there wasn't a blonde head in the room. A brunette woman, who looked fairly familiar to Percy ran to the bed, grasping his arm. Scared, he wrenched his arm from her and sat up in his bed, scrambling to the wall. "Sweety, it's me. Grover, call the Doctor in!" The woman's face was shined with tears, but Percy didn't care. The only image in his head was a girl with blonde hair. "Annabeth! Where is she? Annabeth!"" he screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice strangled from crying. "Honey, who's Annabeth, There's no Annabeth?" the woman asked, her face scared and baffled.

Percy stared at the woman, wide-eyed. He knew her. He knew her from somewhere. A face blurred into his mind; a woman, bring him a cake to the kitchen table, with blue frosting and blue cake. Blue.  
"Mom?" he asked shakily, his eyes boring into hers.

His mother covered her face with her hands and nodded, too stunned for words. "Yes, it's me. Mom." she leaned over to give him a hug, and Percy couldn't help but hug her back, both teary-eyed. "The last time I remember seeing you is before I left to stay at Camp Half-Blood." he said again, a hint of laughter in his voice. But his mother tensed up and stepped back from the bed, her knit eyebrows seemed to scare her. She had faded scared across her face, multiple ones. "Percy, honey... Camp-Half Blood?"

An older boy limped in, a man in a white coat following him. "Amazing," he gasped, and walked over to the bed. He tried to examine Percy, but all the boy could do was stare at the other boy that had walked in, who stood beside the bed.

"Grover?"

The boy was taller, his orange hair and goatee was trimmed and tamed, and he wore a Shasta hat on his head. The boy smiled excitedly, and swayed. "Oh, man Percy! I was about to give up on you! I knew you could do it, I knew you could fight it!"

Percy laughed again, tears still streaming his face. So Grover knew of the mission, and knew he succeeded. "It was Leo. He closed the Doors of Death. But did we really stop Gaea? Grover, is Mount Olympus still safe?" he asked greedily. He needed to know. But Percy's excitement fell when Grover's face look just as confused as his mothers. His eyes looked down from the bed, and widened when he noticed Grover's legs. Prosthetics. Grover and two prosthetic legs, both from the knee down. "Grover, where are your goat legs?" he asked, dazed, and glanced around to everyone's faces. They looked concerned. Worried. As if Percy was crazy.

But he wasn't. He knew he wasn't.

"Doctor.." his mother said, her voice cracking. But the doctor put up a hand. "This is common, Ms. Jackson." Then his eyes fell to Percy, and Percy looked up at him. "Percy, do you remember anything of what happened before you woke up?" he asked, his voice sounding so understanding. He sat himself up straighter, and looked blankly at the bed sheet. "I was in Tartarus, at the Doors of Death. We closed the doors, and stopped Gaea from defeating Olympus. Me, Nico, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason..." he said, and took a deep breath. "And... and Annabeth." Percy looked up painfully, staring at the Doctor. "Where am I? How did I get here? Where's Annabeth?"

Percy's mother broke into tears again, sobbing away as Grover rubbed her shoulder, coaxing her to sit down in the chair. Percy felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up with pained eyes, only to see a hard expression.

"Percy, you were a victim of a car crash. You, your mother, and your friend here were driving through Manhattan when a drunk driver skipped a red light and hit your car, causing it to flip over multiple times. You're mother was cut with glass all over her body, and the dashboard crushed underneath your friends legs, causing them to be amputated."

Percy's eyes horridly skimmed to Grover, to his legs, which in fact were amputated. Percy's breaths started to become deep and shaky. No, it's all a lie. He's lying.

"And you, Percy. Your injuries were so severe, especially for your body size, that your body shut down, forcing you to fall into a coma. And now you've woken up."

Percy's throat felt dry. His heart was racing. But the only thing that remained in his brain was blonde hair. Stuttering, Percy balled his fist and looked back down. "How long," he said, his voice cracking. "How long have I been here?" he asked. Something must have happened in Tartarus. They must have been saved. It was Poseidon. Poseidon saved him, that's it.

The doctor squeezed Percy's shoulder. "Percy, you've been in a coma for six years."

And his heart stopped. He looked back and forth from the doctor to his mother, neither one of them denying it. "No. No." he said, a crazed laughing gurgling up. "It was Posieden. I know it." he said, his head spinning with memories. The blonde face faded and replaced by a car. A blue car. And then glass. And the sound of sirens. He grabbed his head with both hands and screamed out, worlds mixing together, pictures swirling, fading in and out. "Annabeth!" he cried. "WHERE'S ANNABETH?" he screamed, again at the top of his lungs, this time, thrashing about in the bed. He pulled off the wires and cords, unhooking himself from medicine and machines. "I need Annabeth! Annabeth!"

"Nurse! We need back-up!"

But Percy wasn't crazy. Annabeth could save him. He needed her. He could help her.

Nurses came in to hold him down, grabbing him by the wrists and legs. "No, no! Let go off me!" he screamed again, the tears pouring down his face. "Annabeth! Annabeth!"

Percy felt a sharp pinch in his neck, and a coldness run through his veins, and suddenly, his vision started to blur into colors. The hands released him, but he also had the inability to move. "Anna...beth.." he mumbled, and a smiling face, one that seemed to know all our secrets stared up at him, and blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail was the last thing Percy saw before blacking out.


	2. I Don't Know

Percy awoke groggily, the smell of bleach and latex fresh in his nose. His vision wasn't quite clear, and he couldn't summon the energy to sit up in his bed, so he turned his head to the side, and Grover sat in the chair, snoring. "Gr- Gro-, ugh," he groaned, and moved his head back. But, luckily, the noise seemed to startle Grover, waking him up and causing him to jump from his chair.

"Huh, what?!" he called protectively, arms up in defense, but when his eyes fell to a limp Percy, he regained himself and waddled to his friend's side. "Oh, Percy! Man, am I glad to see you! I thought you were gunna go back and snooze for another couple years." he said, and though he tried to joke it off, a hint of angst filled his voice.

Percy didn't know how to feel, or react. Suddenly two worlds were mixing into one in his mind, and he couldn't differentiate which was which, what was real, and what was made up. Olympus, Poseidon, Camp Half-Blood, his friends. It all seemed so real. It had to be. And yet, he was here. In a hospital bed in Manhattan, where everyone was telling him his memories were a lie.

He didn't want to think anymore. His eyes scanned his room, and locked on a glass of water. He tried to reach an arm out to grab it, but it required too much effort, and it fell to his side. Grover stammered again. "Oh, hey, here, I got it, buddy." he said, taking the glass and putting it up to Percy's mouth. Percy gulped down the water, it being the only substance to somewhat revive him, and he had the energy to slightly sit himself up so that he wasn't staring up at the ceiling.

"How'ya feeling?" Grover asked.

"Lousy." Percy muttered, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. His eyes flickered up to Grover, and he regretted it. Grover's expression was filled with a mixture of remorse, sadness, and pain. A look Percy had seen before, but not on him. The memory filled his head. He was grabbing onto a ledge, his other hand holding an arm. No, her arm. Nico's face was above him, mouthing for Percy to hold on. And his eyes looked down, and he saw that expression. The one that looked up at him when she realized that it could be the end. Her grasp was slipping from his, and the look between them was filled with all the words they couldn't say. And right before she was going to slip from him, Percy did what he had to do. He let go of the ledge, and grabbed onto Annabeth, holding her close, and fell to their death.

He blinked again, and remembered where he was, in the hospital room, with Grover beside his bed. Grover bit his thumbnail anxiously, carefully observing his friend, but Percy put his head in his hands and leaned back and forth, trying, hoping, not to lash out again. "I.. I was really in a coma for six years?" he asked, not even believing it himself. "Six entire years?" He was surprised Grover was still willing to be his friend after six years. "Yeah, you were." Grover required quietly. "Ever since the accident, you'd been completely asleep. Your mom tried everything to try and wake you up. She took an extra job to pay for your treatment, and hired all sorts of medics and doctors, but you just wouldn't. It was like your body was forcing you to stay asleep." he continued, his hands fumbling. "It wasn't until a month ago that your heart rate started to change, and your body was showing actual human functions, even though you were still asleep. Your mom called me, and we both had been visiting you everyday since then, hoping to be here when you woke up."

Percy still couldn't wrap his head around it all, but it had to be true. He had no choice. But he couldn't seem to believe everything he remembered so clearly, that it was all a lie.

"Is there really no Annabeth?" he asked shakily, and though he already knew the answer, he didn't want to hear it. "No blonde girl who goes around calling me 'Seaweed Brain'?" he asked, and just the smallest memory hurt so much. Grover shook his head. "We didn't have a lot of friends in elementary school, let alone talk to any girls. And I doubt you'd had many dates while being in a coma for six years, so... I'm going to say no."

Just hearing it from him in that way, seemed to be so absurd. "But," he cringed, trying to push back false memories. "It all seemed so real. She seemed so real." The image of her face burned into his brain, always hovering, and he could still feel her hand holding on to his wrist, could still hear her mumbling her name.

"Hey, buddy. I know you must feel all sorts of crazy, like you're in a hole no one can help you ou-"

"A dam hole." Percy said, looking down at his sheets, suppressing a smile.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Grover raised an eyebrow at his friend, still trying to read the boy, but it wasn't happening. "We're going to help you get back on your feet, literally. You start rehabilitation tomorrow, and we're going to help you separate your stories from your life, and fill you in on the wonderful world since you've been on vacation. Lucky you, you basically missed your entire high school experience." Percy gave his friend a weak smile, and scratched his head, and looked over at the glass of water on his bedside. Maybe, it was all still an allusion. He had to be the son of Poseidon. He knit his brows and concentrated on the glass, hoping for the water to splash out, spill, or even just ripple. But nothing happened.

Grover's eyes followed Percy's, which was to the cup, and he was starting to show concern. "Uh... Percy?" he asked slowly, looking back and forth from the cup to his friend. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Percy said, snapping back from his daze. "Oh, nothing. Sorry."

Outside his door, he watched nurses and doctors walk back and forth, assisting other patients, reading clipboards. This was his reality. And as much as he hated it, Camp Half-Blood was a creation of his imagination. And he didn't want it to be. All his memories, all the ones that filled up the last 6 years, they gave him purpose. Or, so he thought. He went through so much, faced Death and back, almost became a God. Met the love of his life. He shared so many amazing experiences with extraordinary friends, and they weren't real. They were fake, lies.

"Percy, uh... you're crying..."

Percy looked up and blinked, and felt the tears rolling down his cheek. "Huh?" He brushed the tears away with his hand, and realized that he really was, and hadn't even noticed it. "Oh. Sorry." he said, and rubbed his face dry, leaving it flushed and pink.

Grover gave his best friend a kind smile, and walked away from the bed, over to a backpack. "I don't know if it's allowed, but I brought you some cookies, that your mom made." he said, pulling a Ziploc bag out and returning back to the bed side.

"They're your favorite kind. Blue."


	3. But

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really glad you guys like it! And if you guys are worried about ppsting chapters: I already have up to Chapter 6 done. You'll get it soon! Keep the love! (:  
> -Banna

Percy's hands gripped the sides of the machine, his knuckles white from pain.

"Come on, Percy, just a few more steps." his mother coaxed.

Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip and forced his legs to move again. After a week of rehabilitation, Percy was slowly starting to allow his body to remember normal functions, like walking, flexing, feeling. The pain was the worst in the beginning. Since he'd never really experienced a coma (unless you count being brain-washed for 6 months, which, he didn't), he didn't expect to fall to the ground when he tried to get out of bed the first time.

The treadmill was literally on it's lowest speed, and yet Percy could barely keep up. He was disgusted with himself; he had the willpower to fight gods and monsters, creatures and spirits, and this was what he couldn't accomplish.

Percy instantly closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers to his temple. It's not real, he thought to himself. That part is the lie.

Today he was supposed to talk to a psychologist on his condition, and try to sort his memories. Even though it was so easy for everyone to believe what he was saying was a lie, Percy felt so attached to them. They were the most fresh and real memories.

"I...I can't keep going." he groaned in pain, and ducked his head in defeat. One day, he'd run a full mile. One day. And that day would be soon.

His therapist gave him a light smile and switched off the machine. "Percy, you made great progress today! Well done." she said, a bit to chipper. She was half expecting her to scoff and cross her arms and say "That's the best you've got? Pathetic, Seaweed Brain."

Oh, how he'd wished she'd done that.

The therapist checked off some things on her clipboard, and then scribbled in some notes. "Alright, you've seemed to make some great progress today. Before you know it, you should be walking properly!" She didn't understand how someone who worked around sickly patients all day could walk around so happy. It lurked death. "You meet with the psychologist in fifteen minutes, in room 31A." she said, looking between Percy and his mother. And with a final annoyingly bright smile, she left.

Percy strained to just get himself off the machine, but when she noticed his struggle, his mother rushed over to assist him. She held his arms and guided him to his wheelchair, which he used in order to get around. "Thanks, mom." he said, and gave her a weak grin. She smiled back, but he could almost feel the hurt and pain that radiated off of her. They looked at each other for a moment, at a loss for words, until she walked behind him and started to push the wheelchair outside the room, to the hallways.

He could only imagine how she felt after the accident. She'd lost her son for six years, hoping and praying that one day he would wake up. As a mother, loosing your only child was like loosing her life, especially with his mom. He remembered the first time he went to sleep-away camp one summer, and she basically wept by the time he came back. But it was worse now. It's wasn't petty sadness, it was sorrow. It was regret, pain. Percy felt a whole in his heart that grew bigger and bigger, ready to consume him.

"I'm sorry, mom." he croaked, looking straight ahead. She laughed lightheartedly behind him. "For what, sweetie?" she asked, so calm and simple. His brows knit, and his fingernails dug into his hospital gown.

"For leaving you alone for so long." he said again, quieter.

The wheelchair stopped moving, and for a few moments, his mother didn't say anything. "Mom, I-" he started, turning to look at her, and he stopped at the sight of her face. Her lip was trembling, and tears were starting to spill from her eyes as she knelt down next to him, taking one of his hands in hers.

"Percy, it is not your fault. It was never your fault. All I care about is that you are here now. And I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe." Her eyes were shined with wetness. Percy had never seen his mother like this before, but then again, he was asleep for a third of his life.

"I love you, mom."

She smiled that gentle smile that he had associated with safety his entire life. "I love you, too. Now, you have an appointment."

__________________________________________________________

Percy knocked on the wooden door to room 31A by himself, since his mother left for work. "Come in." a voice beckoned, and Percy turned the knob and rolled in.

A man in a white coat and long brown hair sat facing the window, his back to Percy, reading a piece of paper. "Percy, is it?" he asked, without turning. Percy moved himself to the lounge chair that sat in the back and helped himself out of the wheelchair and sat down. "Yes, sir." As he struggled to sit down, the man has somehow made his way over to Percy, and held his back and Percy adjusted his body. Man, he hated feeling so helpless.

He looked up at the man to thank him, but his mouth just hung open. The man before him was no man. At least, he didn't think so. Or was he? But the broad, muscular figure. The long brown hair and beard to match. The only thing lacking was the fact that he had actual legs. Percy just stood in silence as the man just stared down at him with a small grin.

"Nice to meet you, Percy. I am Dr. Brunner."

__________________________________________________________

"A centaur? Named Chiron? Interesting." Dr. Brunner pondered, siting in a chair across from Percy. He didn't take notes like a regular doctor. It was like he just wanted to have a normal conversation with Percy. But after Percy had a sudden freak out, he was able to believe that Dr. Brunner was in fact, not a bow and arrow shooting centaur who had trained Percy.

"Percy, what else happened in this alternate state you were in."

It was hard to explain it all. Every time Percy was alone to think about it, he would end up heavily breathing or freaking out, screaming crucially, and sometimes breaking things. He couldn't stop the moments, the memories seemed to sting his brain, forcing themselves to be real, to be seen.

Suddenly, a flashback popped in his head, and it felt more real than any of his other ones. It was the day he woke up from the fight with the minotaur, and he was in the infirmary, and Annabeth stood above his, blotting his head with a damp cloth and feeding him ambrosia. Even her stern and hard expression seemed to look at him with so much content. And those gray eyes...

The flashback seemed so real. He could feel the cool towel on his forehead, her steady breathe as she tried to ensure his life, not that it was valuable to her at the time. The tension between them was strong, and it hurt him to realize that that moment, that first moment where he met the girl he'd fall in love with, was gone. Lost in the abyss of dreams.

His eyes blinked open and his breath was heavy, like he had just ran a marathon, and he was lying on the lounge chair, he brought himself back to the reality, but, something was different. Dr. Brunner was now standing, across the room with a nurse. The nurse looked more scared than Dr. Brunner, like she had never witness what had just happened, but Percy blinked at them in confusion.

Dr. Brunner walked slowly back to the chair, and sat again, staring at Percy. "Do you know what you just did?" he asked calmly, lacing his finger together.

What he did? What did Percy do He just remembered blacking out, and then clocking in. He shook his head slowly at Dr. Brunner, and nervously rubbed his legs. "You started lashing out. It was like you blacked out, and then started thrashing around, screaming very loud. It's not something I hadn't seen, but you kept yelling someone's name."

Percy stared wide-eyed at him, his breath starting to increase speed again. "What, uh, what name?" he asked, closing his eyes. He didn't want to cry, he couldn't cry. But lately he felt like he had every reason to. Why did he have to be the one to go through this? He had no idea how strong he was. All his strength that he thought he had, they were lies. Was he anything like the Percy Jackson he thought he was? That's what pained him the most. And he didn't want to hear the name. He didn't want to hear the name that he knew he could never call out to again, because she was sitting in her cabin, reading scrolls upon scrolls, deciding on the structure for the new building she was putting up in Olympus. He didn't want to hear the name he whispered right before their lips met, so that he could remember the moment forever. The name of the girl that would never be his again.

"Annabeth."


	4. Well...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico.  
> That's all I'm gunna say.

Percy spent the remainder of the day in Dr. Brunner's office, trying to put into words his alternate state he had been, which hadn't been easy. He lashed out at certain memories, broke down, and blacked out once or twice. But Dr. Brunner didn't give him that look; like, he was a kicked puppy, needed to be healed and nursed, which sort of reassured Percy. Dr. Brunner also didn't act as if Percy was crazy for still holding on to the hope that this world he dreamnt up was somehow real. He was calm, collected, and understanding. And a great listener. Her resembled Chiron in every way to Percy.

Well, except for the horse body.

Percy also spent the next morning talking to Dr. Brunner. It was starting to became easier, talking to him. But he was still battling with memories. Grover came along, and they filled Percy in on what he missed while he was away, which was comforting, in a way. Technology became more slightly advanced, but after spending six years dreaming upon a world of Greek battle and swords and chariots, a tablet seemed to be the least of his worries.

"I still don't get how I dreamnt up a character that looked like you, even though I've never met you." Percy asked. He understood remembering Grover and his mother, because he knew them before the accident. Dr. Brunner simply nodded his head.

"Our minds work quite outstandingly, don't they. You see, our minds cannot simply create a face. In our dreams, we always think we see people we've never met, but, we have. The brain can remember ever face it sees, even if it's a stranger passing by on the sidewalk."

"But I'd never seen you before." he retorted.

"Something also quite fascinating. Comatose patients often have out of body experiences, in which they can see themselves and what is around them without being awake for it, or aware. I often visted you while you were asleep, examining your functions and breathing, as part of my job. My attendance could have triggered in your brain whenever I spoke or examined you. This is not a rare case for patients like you."

Percy felt sick to his stomach. If that was the case, then everyone from his dream were real: they just weren't who he assumed they were. They weren't demigods.

"How long do you think it's going to take for me to be alright?" he asked sheepishly, looking at his folded hands. Dr. Brunner stood up from the chair and walked around the room, standing beside his office window, which overlooked the city. "Percy, you've made great progress in the last two weeks." he said reassuringly, his eyes gazing at the buildings.

It was true; Percy had achieved a lot. Along with catching up to the outside world, his muscles and body parts were starting to loosen up and move properly. Instead of a wheelchair, he now used a cane for support. Though it made him feel older than his age, it was a necessity.

"The human brain is a marvelous thing. It can repair itself in a day. Or it can hiatus itself. I believe it is your own will that will determine whether your brain will heal you, and when."

Percy chewed on the inside of his cheek. As much as he long to want to go back to the world of Greek Mythology, what he wanted more than anything was to feel normal. To not feel like he's battling against two different sides of himself. There was Percy Jackson: Demigod hero, and Percy Jackson: comatose patient. And they were both really starting to get on his nerves.

"There is a possibility that these episodes, or memories, might never fade." Dr. Brunner started again calmly. "You could go weeks, months, even years without thinking of it, and then, one day, they just trigger. And that is perfectly normal." He made his way back to Percy and loomed over him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This was six years of your life that took over you. But that doesn't mean it has to keep taking over." Percy felt Dr. Brunner's hand squeeze his shoulder and release, and laced his fingers in front of him.

"I think that's it for today, Percy. It's time for lunch, anyway." he concluded, and walked back to his desk taking a seat. Percy managed a polite smile. "Alright." he sighed, and groaned as he stood up, using his cane for support. Man, he felt so old doing that. Dr. Brunner chuckled softly and looked back at his papers. But as Percy reached for the door handle, he turned around.

"Thanks Chi- er, uh, Dr. Brunner. Thanks."

Dr. Brunner looked up and glanced at Percy, and he almost felt like the man was going to scold him or something.

"Anytime, my boy."

_________________________________________________

At the rehabilitation ward in the hospital, patients usually ate together in a cafeteria, where they were served three meals a day. If you were bed-ridden, they brought the food to you. Percy had food brought to him at first, but it just made him feel so useless. The moment he could mobilize himself, he depended solely on himself, and his mother on certain occasions.

Once again, his mother was working a double shift at her adequate candy store, trying to rack up as much money as she could. That was another reason Percy was so anxious to heal himself; he didn't want his mother to work so hard for him. He could only imagine the last six years, not only did she have to worry for his health, she had to pay the bills for the hospital that was ensuring his health to her. The sooner he was capable, he would step in for his mother. She deserved that much.

The food offered at the cafeteria wasn't the best of the chef, but it was pizza, and something shook in Percy's mind that he really liked pizza. He wasn't sure if it was his dream personality, or his own, but all he really was sure of was that he really wanted the pizza.

Escaping the line with his tray, he glanced around the small room with the rows of tables. He imagined this was what high school was like: the dreaded 'where do I sit at lunch' routine. But it wasn't so much as these people were intimidating, it was if they were sane.

Then, in the far back, he noticed a fairly empty table, except for one boy. All Percy could see was the back of his head, which had moppy black hair, and that his body was attached to a rolling IV. He also wore a brown aviator jacket, which was odd because it was a million degrees inside. He didn't seem terrible, or crazy. Just lonely. So, Percy took a deep breath and walked to the table, Percy coughed up, and ducked his head to try to get a better look at the kid, and make sure he wasn't dead. "I'm Percy." he said. He raised a brow. Was this kid serious. Percy was almost about to get up and go eat in a dumpster when the boy spoke up. "I know." his voice wasn't very pleasant, but it wasn't very harsh either. It also sounded very adolescent. And also familiar.

Dazed, Percy backed his head quizzically. "Uh, have we met?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck. Talk about uncomfortable.

Slowly, the boy picked his head up, and it wasn't until he stared at Percy with those brown eyes, the ones that seemed to always be dark and mysterious, tired, as if the life was constantly being drained from him. Percy blinked his eyes and he felt a different memory.

Well, it was sort of a mirage. The same eyes looking down at him, pleading for him to hold on to the ledge just a little bit longer. The eyes that didn't cry when he realized his sister was gone, but yet held all the sadness in the world. The eyes that, at first, Percy didn't trust, but slowly, he eased up to. The angel's eyes.

"Nico?" he choked, and then suddenly realized what he had said. Judging by the look on the boy's face, he was just as confused. But, it looked as if for a different reason rather than being called a random name.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, his eyes darkening, almost as if forming black holes. Percy was just as shocked as he was, at the fact that it was right. "Uh, I.. I don't..." he stammered. This wasn't the real Nico, though. Like Dr. Brunner said, the faces he saw were people he knew. "Do we.. know each other?"

Nico rubbed his nose with his sleeve, and pushed his tray back. "You don't know me. At least, I thought. But I know you." he said, his voice grim.

Percy knit his brows and stared at the boy, waiting for him to continue. And Nico seemed to catch on.

"Uh, I'm a patient in the cancer ward. I've been in and out for lymphoma for the past 8 years. I was here the day you were admitted to the hospital. Overheard you were in a coma, yada yada." he said, whisking his hands in the air. "I assumed you were gunna wake up in a few weeks, couple months. Guess you overstayed your welcome."

Percy really couldn't handle it. The boy's skin was a sickly pale color, almost like a ghost. He already looked dead. "Did you ever come into my room?" he asked, suddenly intrigued.

Nico looked at Percy skeptically, and then shrug his shoulders. "Couple of times, in the beginning. You seemed so lifeless. You could barely tell you were breathing sometimes. But I started going back to radiation and medications and surgeries, I sorta just left you."

Nico seemed so relaxed telling him this stuff, but then again, if you were always on the verge of death, you'd have a tendency to never be surprised by things. "Plus, your girlfriend started showing up once in a while, so I dropped it."

Okay, now he was really confused. His mom was young, but not enough to be his girlfriend. "You must mean my mom. She's pretty young loo-"

"It wasn't your mom, trust me. But by how old she was, I just assumed she was your girlfriend." he shrugged again, toying with the wires attached to his inner arm.

Percy was starting to feel lightheaded again. He didn't know any other girls? Being in a coma for 6 years really limits your chances of making new friends. "Did you ever happen to catch her name?" he asked, leaning in closer to the table.

Nico gave him a hatred look. "I was in the middle of dying, you think I was trying to figure out her name? I could have cared less. All I remember one day when I was omitted back in, is that I walked past your room, and she was there, sitting next to you. Didn't see her face, never saw her before. But she was always in the room when I walked by." he said, and with that, he slowly pushed himself away from the table, and grabbed hold of the IV to steady himself. He slowly turned to leave, but he caught himself ,and looked back at Percy. "I do remember something, though, I don't know if it'll help you much with anything, Coma boy." he said, and rubbed his eyes.

"What, what is it?" Percy asked eagerly. Something told him that he needed to know who this girl was.

Nico turned back around, facing the exit door, and took a tired breath.

"Her hair. It was blonde."


	5. I'm not sure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ahahahahaha just you wait

Percy paced his hospital room; and by paced, he meant slowly limp back and forth, using a cane as support.

"Always."

He could hear this voice in his head now, clearly. It was a lot more vivid ever since he had that conversation with Nico, the dying boy. He needed to know who this mysterious girl with blonde hair was, and hopefully get some answers.

"Percy? Sweetie?"

He whisked his head to glance at his door to see his mother peeking her head in, and once realizing that the coast was clear, came in and closed the door behind her. "What's wrong, sweetie? The nurse said you were asking for me."

Amidst Percy's frantic freak-out for the last couple of hours, he realized if anyone was going to know who this girl was, it would be his mother. After all, she would be the person who would have visited him he most.

"Mom, I need to ask you something." He started, and took a seat on the edge of his hospital bed. It had been the home of his nightmares and tremors from the last week. A part of his body was somehow missing from his memory. It was like his body was split in two: his soul, left wandering around, lost, trying to reach back to him, and reconnect himself with what he felt like was an empty body that he was trapped in. But then he'd get flashes of memories, or feelings of nostalgia. He'd hear small phrases that he'd try to piece together of people. And man, was it hard to separate those memories from his mythological memories.

His mother's face grew with worry, as it usually always did when Percy wasn't his happiest. What could she expect from him? He was stuck in a hospital for weeks for rehabilitation, while he had to catch up on the last few years of his life that he slept through.

She found her way next to him on the bed, and took one of his defined, broad hands into both of her tiny, delicate ones, and braved a smile. "Percy, sweetie, what's wrong?"

He didn't really know how to approach the question, but it wasn't much of something to hide. If he didn't get an answer now, he never would. "Mom, has anyone besides you or Grover ever came to visit me?" he asked, focusing on the calluses in her hand. "Someone, close to my age, maybe? Blonde?" he continued, and forced himself to meet her eyes. But her furrowed brow said enough. "No.. not that I know of. I assumed it was immediate family, only. "she responded cautiously. It was then that Percy realized he was gritting his teeth, and stopped immediately. He wasn't about to let his mother think his weird coma-state memories were coming back to him. The last thing he wanted was for her to worry.

"Oh, that's totally cool. I just thought I noticed someone around. It's fine. I'm fine." He tried to explain simply, but came out as a jumble of words.

"Are you sure?" she asked, rubbing the top of his hand.

He flashed her a bright smile. "Great as can be, mom. Sorry for bothering you. Aren't you off to work about now?"

She stood up frantically. "I almost forgot. I'll come back tonight, honey. And maybe we can watch Finding Nemo." She said, a soft smile spread against her mouth, and she leaned over to kiss the top of his head. "I love you."

Strangely enough, the movie sounded very appealing to him. He wondered if it was one of his favorites. "That sounds great, mom. And I love you, too."  
___________________________________________

Later that night, Percy decided to go to the cafeteria to eat with the other patients. It had a foul smell of bleach and morphine. But, it wasn't so much for the patients as it was for the patient. With his tray of a single slice of pepperoni pizza and a cup of PowerAde, he made his way to the seat across form Nico as he did every day since he met him. Usually their meals consisted of silence, or the occasional question from Percy and Nico's followed glare. But he never told him to leave, which Percy took as good sign.

But as Percy sat down, expecting another hour of silence as he ate his pizza and Nico dabbled at the chicken and vegetables on his place, but never actually eating it, he heard Nico clear his throat. Percy, his pizza half way between the plate and his open mouth, looked up to see that Nico was looking at him, so he slowly placed his food back on his plate. "Why do you keep sitting with me?" he asked, in a very vulgar tone. "If this is some kind of act of pity, then you can just leave. I don't give a crap about it, or you." Nico moved his eyes to look back at his plate, untouched, and a snarled a bit.

If Percy hadn't already been accustomed to Nico's attitude, he might have been surprised. Appalled, even. But, instead, he leaned back in the plastic chair that had clones around the entire cafeteria, threw his head back and chuckled a bit. Nico scoffed again, and it made Percy laugh a bit louder. "We're in a hospital, for God's sake." Percy said, squinting at the bright light from the ceiling panels. "There are hundreds of people here I'd pity before I'd get to you. So don't think so highly of yourself, Cancer boy." He thought maybe the last part was a gut-cutter; he didn't know if Nico was even to terms with his illness, though he'd spent the last week referring to Percy as "Coma boy." He dropped his head back to across from him, hoping he wasn't going to lose the one person who didn't treat him like a walking cautionary tale. But he noticed, for a slight moment, the corners of Nico's mouth curl up, just a bit.

They spent the remainder of dinner in silence.  
___________________________________________  
 _Always._

The word echoed in his ear as he spent the afternoon alone in his room. Today it was more of a ringing.

_And I will always be with you._

It wasn't easy, hearing things, having flashes of things, but not being able to piece them together. Like a puzzle that just won't fit together because it's missing it's important piece. The piece that connects the entire picture.

Around the time he had just gotten it to become a dull throb of words in his head, he had just gotten out of the shower and changed into a clean pair of pants. He hesitated, though, on putting on the hospital shirt that told him to wear. He usually never does, but he's supposed to when he sleeps, in case they need to operate. Though, being someone coming from a coma, he'd assume any problems he'd have would be located neck, up.

He took a towel and dried his moppy black hair with it, and it was then, looking in the small room's mirror that he'd noticed how shaggy it was. When he was a boy, he remembered always getting his hair cut short. But now it was long, untamed, and disheveled. And it just reminded him of the years he spent in a bed, unconscious. And suddenly, he was angry. Angry that, of all people, this tragedy had to happen to him, had become his life. He'd wasted half of his life out of society, sleeping, dreaming away, while his mother worried. Half of his life growing out his forsaken hair. His hands gripped the sink's rim and he took deep breaths. _I can cut it off,_ he thought. _I'll just find some scissors to cut it all off. It needs to go. Needs to go…_

He heard the click of his door, and quickly stood straight. His mother was back. His heartbeat was still racing, his breaths shallow. He had to remain calm, for his mom. He never wanted her to worry. She worried enough. Taking one last breath, he opened the bathroom door a tad more to shovel through, and replaced the towel on his head to rub his hair dry once more, bringing his gaze to the ground. "Hey, mom. Ready to watch the m-"

His mouth stopped working. Just stopped. Because as he threw the towel on his shoulder and looked up, he realized it wasn't his mother he was talking to.

"Y-you- you're awake."

Percy blinked. And then blinked again. And then kept blinking because that was all he could register to do.

The girl before him, at least a foot shorter than her, stood frozen, gray eyes wide and dilated, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously, neither one of them daring to take a step closer to each other. It was stupid question to ask, really, because he knew who it was. Especially because the words were screaming in his head.

_Seaweed Brain._

_Always._

_And I will always be with you._

She blinked for the first time, and her eyes sort of sparkled, like gray clouds in front of a golden sun. But she pursed her lips and tucked some of her golden blond hair behind her ears.

"I'm Annabeth."


	6. Confused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> percabeth is coming

They were hugging.

They were hugging.

Well, it was more of her taking the few steps to get to him and wrapping her arms around him as tight as someone as petite as her could, and Percy, as flabbergasted as could be. But then, there was a small part of him that told him to, no, forced him to think that hugging her back was what he was supposed to do. So, he did. Her face was pressed against his bare chest, probably still wet from the shower, but she didn't seem to mind. Confused, Percy let his arms snake around her and hug her tight, as if it was second nature to his body. But not to his head.

The stood like that for about a minute, just holding each other in the middle of his reek-of-death hospital room. But as the minute ended, Annabeth jerked away from him, as if she had touched fire.

"I'm sorry." She said sternly, though she held her head up, her face emotionless. To others, the abrasiveness might have been a turn-off. But to Percy, it was weirdly comforting. He let out a small laugh, hoping to lighten the mood, but she was still stern-faced. "It's okay." He said, offering a small smile. She didn't return it, which made him anxious. She just stood, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

He was milling in the silence when she finally spoke up. "When did you come out?"

"Excuse me?" Percy asked, alarmed.

"Of your coma." Annabeth clarified.

"Oh." Percy said. As if the hospital didn't remind him, Percy liked to feel as though it never happened sometimes. But, it did, and he couldn't escape from it. He lazily walked over to a duffle bag by his bed, and pulled out a clean orange t-shirt, and slipped it over his head. "A few weeks, I guess." He answered, making his way to the loveseat by the door.

She nodded at his answer, and slowly made her way to the couch as well, but sitting as close to the opposite edge as she could. Silence again.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said, careful not to stare into her stormy eyes too long.

She nodded again, and he sat back in the seat. "You've visited me more than once." He started, and she quickly cut in. "That's not a question." She retorted, and he rolled his eyes. "Would you let me get there? Anyway. I heard you came to visit me a lot. Do we know each other?" he asked hesitantly. What if she was someone very important in his life, and he had forgotten. He hadn't forgotten Grover, though. Or his mom.

She pursed her lips again (she did that a lot). "Just, don't freak out on me." She asked quietly, and Percy was going to make some off-putting joke, but he noticed she looked genuinely scared, so he just nodded and leaned in a bit. "My dad is a doctor on this floor. When I was younger, I used to come in to the hospital a lot to see him when he wasn't busy. I was here the day you were admitted. You were twelve, Percy. Can you believe it?" She seemed a bit dwelled on the story, but Percy still didn't understand. Sio he persuaded her to continue with the shake of his head. "Well, uh, I noticed you were almost the same age as me, and it kind of interested me when I heard the nurses talk about you being in a coma. And this is the part where I hope you don't freak out." She said, clenching her teeth nervously. "Oh, how bad could it be?" he said, pushing her to continue.

"I just started sneaking in to see you. When no one was around, I'd come in and read to you from one of my school books, or watch a movie with you. I know it was stupid of me, I knew you weren't actually capable of responding back to me. It's just… you seemed lonely. Your presence, did, I mean. And even as I got older, when I was well aware of how stalkersish I was seeming, I couldn't really keep myself from just stopping in for a little bit. And I'm sorry if I'm sort of throwing this all on you, because I'm a virtual stranger to you, but, yeah."

Annabeth quickly became flustered, and looked down at her hands in her lap. Percy should be freaked out. He felt like he should be weirded out by the girl who had been visiting him for years, but he wasn't. He shook his head fervently, and chuckled. "You don't have to apologize. It's weird, but.." he started, which caught her attention. "I feel like… like I knew you were here. Like my body acknowledged your presence. Because, for some reason, you seem strangely familiar."

What he didn't want to say was that as he'd been unconscious for six years, he had made up an alternate universe to which she was the girl he had fallen in love with. "My doctor told me that I must have had these out-of-body trances. Where I could see and remember people in the room, and remember their faces and actions, but still be unconscious. So, that would explain it."

Her eyes widened. "So, you remember me?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"This side of you, its weird." She mumbled.

"What side?"

"The awake one."

Percy couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh, and for some reason, he just couldn't stop. And soon, Annabeth was laughing too, and soon they were both a jumble of laughs and tears on the small couch.

__________________________________

They talked for a couple more hours that night, Annabeth examining more on her visits and about her life, all while filling Percy in on what the world had changed to since then. It seemed like she spent a lot of her free time visiting him, or just being in the hospital in general. Sure, she was abrupt, analytical, and cold. But there was s something about her that brought a shine of happiness to Percy, and he wondered why other's wanted it for themselves. He just hoped his non-coherent feelings for mythical Annabeth wasn't clouding his judgment of real Annabeth.

Annabeth had left later the night, before his mom had come back to the hospital, Finding Nemo as promised. But he couldn't stop thinking about her.

Now that I am no longer a comatose victim, will you visit again?

Perhaps.

That's not a very precise answer.

It's not a very precise world.

He watched her leave the room, her blonde hair bouncing to her step in its loose ponytail.

_______________________________

That morning, Percy had an appointment with Dr. Brunner. As he walked the cold hallway to his door with the assistance of his cane, he was able to knock on the doctor's door, room 31A.

"Come in." he heard a strong voice beckon, and Percy waddled through the door. Dr. Brunner stood from his chair as Percy entered, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. He was about to go through his weekly check-up questions, but Percy had something bigger on his mind. As soon as he sat down, he started blabbering. "It it possible for my mind to generate feelings and emotions I had from my comatose state and apply them to my real life." He stammered. Dr. Brunner, of course, looked completely unphased.

"What do you mean?"

Percy let out an exasperated sigh. "I feel like..feelings I had for people in my dreams or whatever, they are affecting how I feel about them in person. Is that bad?" he asked, his hands clasped together. He could be talking about anything really, but only he knew what he meant.

Annabeth.

Ever since her encounter with breathing Percy, he couldn't get her out his head. It wasn't he was attracted to her, nor was he not. But he was madly attracted to her in his dreams, and that's what's messing with him. Can he like combat fighting, demi-god Annabeth when the Annabeth he knew was just the doctor's daughter?

Dr. Brunner took one of those prolonged pauses he was famous for, as if Percy was to say more, and when he didn't, he sat up in his chair. "Why would that be bad?" he asked, the lines in his forehead deepening.

"They're not real, that's why." Percy rolled his head on his shoulders, accepting this truth.

"They are your feelings, my boy. And your own personal feelings are always real. You shouldn't shy them away."

Percy hated when Dr. Brunner was right.

________________________________________________

Their session was an hour, of course, as it always had been. Dr. Brunner still asked the medically required questions, but Percy was a bit more confident in something. There was a reason he was always hearing her voice and thinking about the way her blonde hair shaped the structure of her face was not an accident. He just needed to understand it better which was hard, considering half of him felt like he'd known her forever, and the other half remembered that this girl was a stranger that snuck into his room a lot.

He walked with his cane back to his room, passing by nurses and patients in wheelchairs or attached to IV stands. It was an early Saturday afternoon, and the sun that shone through the windows made it feel almost not like a hospital. But then he'd hear the cries of someone and be reminded.

He reached his room, planning to probably just sleep the day away. He deserved it anyway. Between rehabilitation and being smothered by Grover and his Mom, Percy just would rather relax. But as he entered his room, he knew that wouldn't be the case.

Gray eyes beamed up from a leather-bound book to him from the loveseat and offered a rather small smile. Percy leaned against the doorframe, smirking at the blonde.

"Want to hear a story?" she asked, gesturing to the book in her lap.

"What are you doing here on a Saturday? Amazing plans fall through and needed a back-up date?" he joked, and he watched her eyes narrow. But her expression softened just as fast. "I swear, you're head is full of-" she started, but Percy cut her to it.

"Of what?" he asked, cocking his head, ever so wanting to hear her insult.

Annabeth pursued her lips, of course, and rolled her tongue in her cheek. "Full of…something." The smirk on her face was enough to move Percy from his spot to be able to close the door behind him. "Besides, I'd rather be here, anyway." She mumbled, just loud enough to hear. And he was confused on why she said it quietly, as if there was a plethora of people invading his room. But when she said that, Percy could almost feel himself have a heart palpitation. It made him giddy. But his lack of words must have said otherwise to Annabeth.

"I can leave." She said, matter-of-factly, and he knew she was trying to get a rise from him, but he also really didn't want her to go. "No, no, no! Don't go!" and she didn't seem convinced. He rushed to sit next to her on the seat before she could get up, and placed a hand on the book on her lap. "Please. Stay. Read." He said, a calmed tone as he said it. "I'd like the company."

He couldn't be certain, be he was almost positive he saw her cheeks grown a rosy color as she nodded.

"So, what are you going to read for me?"

She ran her long, thin fingers over the leather cover, and opened the book. "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths." she said, and looked up at him. "It's one of my favorites. I used to read it to you a lot. But now you can actually hear it."

Percy laughed again, and didn't think about how coincidental that she read him Greek Myths and it's correlation to his dreams of Greek Mythology. He didn't think about how in love he seemed to be with the daughter of Athena in his dreams, and how much the Annabeth before him seemed just like her. Dr. Brunner was right: there might be reasons he felt a certain way toward her, but for now, he didn't care.

He just sat back and listened to the story of Gaea from a very pretty girl.


	7. Clouded

It’d been about two months since Annabeth had read to him the first time Percy woke from his coma. Since then, the two had been finding themselves together a lot more than usual. Sometimes, after class, Annabeth would come and read to him again, bringing different books and stories. Other days, they would watch television or movies, Percy respectively sitting in his bed, and Annabeth in the chair. They’d sometimes go for walks around the hospital, Annabeth filling in blanks of Percy’s knowledge of the time he was…away. 

He was incredibly grateful. Not because she seemed to make him happier than normal when she was around. But because he never really had a friend before. Sure, he had Grover, but he felt more like a brother to Percy than his friend. They’d always known each other. But Percy was always so socially inept. But talking to Annabeth just felt so easy, like he’d known her for so long.

Percy tried really hard to separate his memories as a demigod from his real life, but it’s easier said than done. In his alternate universe, Annabeth was the girl he fell in love with. He sometimes had to suppress the urge to touch her, or to not smile at her dumbly whenever she bickered back to him, or even to kiss her soft, pink lips. To her, Percy was really just a patient in a hospital she met. To him, Annabeth was so much more.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Percy and Annabeth were walking through the part of the hospital that had paintings and photographs hung up on a wall. It reminded Percy of a gallery in a museum, and it was the only part of the hospital that didn’t feel like the actual hospital. Percy now used a cane to get around, his legs still weak and stiff from all the years of immobility. It was a step up from his walker, that was for sure. 

“Sharks aren’t actually killer creatures, Percy.” You could practically hear her eyes roll in Annabeth’s voice.

“Bullshit! When have you ever heard of a friendly shark? They are death traps.” he said, making their way to a bench that sat facing the wall of artwork.

“They’re not predatory. Only when they feel endangered.”

“That’s not what I saw on Sharknado .”

“Yes, because a film that put sharks in tornados has really gotten all their facts together.” This time, she really did roll her eyes, taking a seat next to Percy. They sat in silence for a while, staring at the photos in the wall in front of him. The art had no real connection to anything, and seemed quite random, but that’s kind of exactly why Percy liked it. It was calm chaos. 

A few minutes passed, when Annabeth spoke.

“Percy?” she said, her voice quiet and nervous that made Percy’s brows draw in concern to look at her. She was looking at her lap. 

“I was researching…about comatose patients and, well…” she was muttering. Percy moved his head to look at her eyes, forcing her to look at him. “Yeah, and?” he said with a small laugh, trying to ease her tension.  
“I read that sometimes comatose patients have really vivid dreams, and that’s why they don’t wake up. They think their dreams are a reality.” she started, and Percy sat back against the bench. His mind flashed to Camp Half-Blood, and the world of mythology he thought was real. He never really talked about it with anyone besides Dr. Bruner, but something compelled him to talk to Annabeth. He wanted to tell her everything about everything. He nodded.

“Yeah, that’s it was kind of like for me.” he said. 

Her eyes lit up. “Tell me about it.” 

Percy let out an exasperate sigh, and let his mind think. Turning to her, he gave her a pleading look. 

“You have to promise not to make fun of me.”

“I won’t.”

He held out his hand. “Pinky promise.”

Annabeth looked at him, to his extended had, and then back to him. Realizing he was serious, sighed and hooked her pinky with his. “I promise.” 

Percy smiled his incredibly goofy smile and brought their hands up to his mouth, kissing his thumb. 

Annabeth stared in horror. 

“Why did you just do that?” she asked.

“It’s how you pinky promise. You have to do it.”

“No way. No.”

“Fine, I won’t tell you my story.” He teased in a tuned voice, a wicked smile growing.

“I hate your smile.” She mumbled under her breath, and quickly brought their hands to her to kiss her hand. “There.”

It was a moment before they moved their hands from each other, and Percy’s every-glowing smile faded away. 

He told her everything: about the camp, about the timespan, how real it felt. And even how everyone from the hospital seemed to find their way into his dreams.

“So…was I in your dream?” she asked quietly. Percy felt so vulnerable, looking at her. He nodded. “Yeah, you were.” He said, and contemplated saying the next part. “We, we were kind of in love.”

He’d never seen her eyes grown so wide. “What?!” she asked. 

“Don’t take it so offensively, geez. You kissed me first.”

To Percy’s surprise, Annabeth did something he didn’t expect: she was laughing. If she had been laughing about something else, Percy might have fallen in love right there and then; the way her eyes crinkled at the sides, and how she would cover he mouth with her hand to keep from making noise. “You said you weren’t going to make fun of me.” He huffed, looking away from her.

“No! No, I’m not. I’m not making fun of you, I swear.” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s just, it’s…” she looked dazed, and then shook her head, frowning. “It’s nothing. I’m sorry.”

It was quite for a beat, the tension between them thick and heavy. He looked at he through the corner of his eye, the way her hair was formed in a messy bun, but somehow looking so perfect as it sat on the top of her head. Her eyes were a clear color of grey, blue tinting the edges. The thing about her eyes, that Percy noticed, was that they were never one color. They seemed to turn to a different shade of grey every time he looked at them. She blinked, and Percy realized that he was staring at her, in complete daze. He quickly looked away, back at the wall.

Silence. And then, “What was dream Annabeth like?” She asked, so quietly he almost missed it. But he could feel the smile tugging at his lips as he turned on the bench to face her. 

“A lot like you, actually. Same personality, same brute and rude attitude.” he teased, and Annabeth punched him in the arm. Like, a real punch. He would have appreciated her not holding back if he hadn’t been the target. He brought his hand up to his shoulder. “Good thing I’m already at the hospital.” He muttered, expecting her to laugh. But she was looking at her lap, like she was upset. And something tugged in Percy’s chest, making him want to make sure she never looked like that again. 

“She was also incredibly caring and sincere when she didn’t even know it, kind of like you. And she crazy intelligent,” he said. “Wise. Just like you.”

Annabeth had looked up from her lap, staring up with her lips slightly parted, a string of colors flooding her eyes. “So,” she said, chewing at her bottom lip. “Does that mean you like me, too?”

It didn’t sound like a plea. It sounded more like it was a question she just wanted the answer to. And it was strangely familiar. Familiar as in, the girl he’d been in love with in his head. Percy thought back to what Dr. Bruner said when he asked him about mixing his dream with reality. He had told him that his feelings were pure, apart from the life he’d imagined the past few years. And though he may have loved the daughter of Athena, he liked regular Annabeth just the same. Because, in a way, she was the same.

Percy didn’t remember exactly when he started to lean toward her, but their lips pressed together were the result of that. He expected Annabeth to retreat immediately, but when he felt her lips separate slightly against his, he realized that this might be something she wanted to. 

His hand had slipped in her hair, his thumb brushing at her cheek to keep her close to him as they kissed warm, soft, and innocent. It wasn’t a kiss searching for heat or depth. It was itself, just a kiss.   
He pulled back a few moments later, hand retreating back to his own lap, and Annabeth’s eyes had become stormy, with specks of green and blue all around. 

“We should head back to the rehab ward before my mom gets here and causes a scene at my empty room,” he said, heaving himself up from the bench, cane in hand. He looked down at Annabeth, still sitting down, her lips parted and her face blank. Percy rolled his eyes.

“I hope you aren’t going to keep making that face whenever I kiss you. It’s a real turn-off.” 

She blinked twice, and gave him a scoff, her face flooding with rage as her cheeks tinted pink. She stood up abruptly, crossing her arms. Percy flashed her a shit-eating grin. 

“That’s the Annabeth I know. “ He turned around, walking back down the hall, his pace slower than average because of his cane. “Come on, wise girl.”

She followed.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah okay but have you seen my [tumblr](http://stilinskyed.tumblr.com/)


End file.
